The Nature of Aggression (or is it Nurture?)

The Nature of Aggression (or is it Nurture?)

Every night on the news there are reports about murders, wars, and rapes. But the news isn't the only place where people encounter violent or aggressive behavior. Driving home from work, people get cut off and cussed at on a daily basis. At school, children fight over who will be the first in the lunch line. On the street, people get pushed out of the way if they are not walking fast enough. The list could go on and on and on. The point is that humans exhibit aggressive behavior on a regular basis. However, does anyone know why people display these behaviors? Why do certain people seem more aggressive? Is there just one thing that controls when and how aggressive someone becomes? These are all questions that researchers have been addressing for many years. In fact there has been quite a debate over what causes people to be aggressive. However, in order to try to understand where aggression may stem from, you must understand how aggression is defined as well as all of the possibilities that may cause it.

Aggression is an action. It is intended to harm someone. It can be a verbal attack--insults, threats, sarcasm, or attributing nasty motives to them--or a physical punishment or restriction (1). Aggression also seems to be a way of maintaining social order among many species. Animals compete with each other over food, mates, and dwelling spaces, often showing aggression and occurring among virtually all vertebrate species, including humans. However, if aggression is an effective way of maintaining social order, reckless violence appears to be a poor survival mechanism. Nevertheless, this trait has not been wiped out. Since it hasn't disappeared, it is logical that researchers hav...

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...e one conclusive answer to why people are aggressive, it doesn't mean that a combination of theories can't be right or that someday, researchers will find the answer.

WWW Sources

1) ANGER AND AGGRESSION , Psychological Self-Help Chapter 7

http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap7/

2)THEORIES OF AGGRESSION

http://www.unn.ac.uk/academic/ss/psychology/resource/it/1/HAZ.HTM

3)Aggression

http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/gather/database/12/

4) University of Plymouth Department of Psychology PSY124 Integrative Topics in Psychology: Aggression

http://salmon.psy.plym.ac.uk/year1/inttopic/aggression.html

5) Features of American Drinking and Violence , WAGUESPACK SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS

http://distanceceus.homestead.com/alcohol_abuse.html

6) LARGE-SCALE STUDY LINKS SEROTONIN LEVELS , AGGRESSION (Crime Times)

http://www.crime-times.org/98b/w98bp1.htm